Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney met with the media to discuss the group of signees for the early signing period, Wednesday. Swinney said he expected to have 23 signees by the end of the day and 16 of those will be mid-year enrollees.

Headlining the class is 6’4″ quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei (St. John Bosco, Bellflower, Calif.). Swinney heaped praise on Uiagalelei during the press conference, describing him as “very focused,” and bringing with him “no drama, no entitlement.”

Uiagalelei is near the top of all the major recruiting rankings as a dual-threat quarterback and Swinney is looking forward to seeing those skills in action, “He’s 6’4.” And very lean. He’s not 6-6 like Trevor, but he’s 6’4″ and none of those guys were 245 lbs. …. as good a runner as we’ve had at the quarterback position …. he’s special with his arm and his legs.”

Swinney also had plenty to say about running back Demarkcus Bowman (Lakeland High School, Lakeland, Fla.), “First time I saw him on film, I said, ‘that’s C.J. Spiller.’ Explosive, fast and really good catching the ball.”

Like Uiagalelei, Bowman is among the highest rated at his position and may help lead the Tigers to the top-rated class. But Swinney says that’s not a goal of his and they look at every signee as a “5-star,” regardless of how the recruiting services rank the player. Swinney also pointed out the continued growth of the Clemson brand across the country. The signees will represent 12 different states and wide receiver Ajou Ajou (Clearwater Academy, Clearwater Fla.) is Canadian. Swinney said, “Kids from all over the country get a lot of Clemson. They know all about us. They know where we’re located. Eleven years ago, not a lot of people outside our main footprint knew where we were. Now they all do.”

You can track Clemson’s full list of early period signees here: https://sportstalksc.com/2019/12/18/strecruiting-clemson-signing-day-tracker-update-815/

Dabo Swinney press conference